Console codenames: before they were famous

What's in a name? Everything. Products live and die by their catchy or unique titles, and children, oh man are they in for a tough life if they're hastily named Richard Long or Nancy Weiner. Obviously the same goes for game consoles, which go through several stages of mock ups and codenames before they ever earn the right to sit next to Big Mouth Billy Bass on a Wal-Mart shelf.

Some of these you may know, others you may not. Just be glad the R&D department doesn't have final say.

Codename: Stella

You know it as: Atari 2600 / Atari VCS

The withered granddad of all consoles began life with a proper human name, even though "Stella" referred to one of the employees' bicycles and not an actual woman. Today, Stella is one of the more popular 2600 emulators.

Codename: Pam

You know it as: Atari 5200

Armed with 2,600 more Atari-bits, this failed follow-up started out as Pam. Depending on who you ask/believe, Pam was an employee at Atari and/or an acronym for Personal Arcade Machine. If you're under 18 and don't remember arcades, shame on your parents for conceiving so late.

Codename: Project Reality

You know it as: Nintendo 64

The system touted as a "quantum leap" above all other consoles began with a similarly arrogant codename of "Project Reality." Nintendo teamed up with CG-experts Silicon Graphics to, ideally, create a machine so effing badass that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and real life... if real life were made of blurry triangles.

It was also called Ultra 64, even verbally in Killer Instinct's arcade attract mode. "Nintendo 64" won out, making it the first Nintendo console to have the same name in the US, Europe and Japan. Here's an actual clipping from USA Today, pulled from the GamesRadar Paper Tomb, that announces the system for an April 1996 launch:

Codename: Katana / Dural / Black Belt

You know it as: Dreamcast

The ill-fated and endlessly remembered Dreamcast was supposed to rescue Sega from the brink of disaster. For one halcyon year, 1999 to 2000, that seemed an attainable goal. Once PS2 hit, however, it was all over, and the Dreamcast (along with its many uncertain codenames) slipped into the abyss.

Codename: Atlantis

You know it as: Game Boy Advance

Rumors began as early as 1996 about a new, more powerful Game Boy that would allow for portable SNES-quality games. Like a lost city beneath the waves, the GBA sank to the bottom of the sales charts and became nothing more than mythological curiosity. Oh wait. That's incredibly wrong. Maybe they just thought Atlantis sounded cool?

Codename: Dolphin

You know it as: GameCube

Teased way back in 1999, the "N2000" morphed into Project Dolphin and ultimately became GameCube. The N64 had cost Nintendo its substantial market lead, so the idea of a new console based on a lively, energetic, personable animal got a lot of people's hopes up. The aquatic theme started with Atlantis and Dolphin carried on to the system's GPU, which was named Flipper.